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OK Human: Difference between revisions
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'''''OK Human''''' is the fourteenth studio album by [[Weezer]]. It was released on [[January 29]], [[2021]]. | '''''OK Human''''' is the fourteenth studio album by [[Weezer]]. It was released on [[January 29]], [[2021]]. | ||
== | ==History== | ||
[[Rivers Cuomo]] first confirmed the album's existence to Zane Lowe in January of 2019. Said Cuomo: "Our next album is not on the grid, we’ve just recorded the basic tracks there’s no click, no grid. We don’t have a real title, but the key word we have to inspire us at the moment is ‘masterpiece’. It’s produced by Jake Sinclair who did [[the White Album]]." | ===Origins=== | ||
[[Rivers Cuomo]] has credited producer [[Jake Sinclair]] with planting "the seed of an idea" for ''OK Human'' in [[2017]]. "Just you and a piano, and an orchestra, and it's gonna be super-personal, quirky songs that only you could write, not worrying about commercial potential at all, [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVsTtPSv-yw] adding that Sinclair suggested he listen to the 1970 album ''[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nilsson_Sings_Newman Nilsson Sings Newman]'' by [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Nilsson Harry Nilsson]. Cuomo said that he was excited from day one, and that the songs came quickly thereafter, with the album being "about 90% done" before he was made aware of the forthcoming [[Hella Mega Tour]]. | |||
===Early promotion=== | |||
Cuomo first confirmed the album's existence to Zane Lowe in January of 2019. Said Cuomo: "Our next album is not on the grid, we’ve just recorded the basic tracks there’s no click, no grid. We don’t have a real title, but the key word we have to inspire us at the moment is ‘masterpiece’. It’s produced by Jake Sinclair who did [[the White Album]]." Cuomo first mentioned the album's working title "''OK Human''" in [https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/la-et-ms-rivers-cuomo-weezer-teal-album-black-album-20190222-story.html an interview with Los Angeles Times] published on [[February 22]], [[2019]], about a week before the release of ''[[The Black Album]]''. Cuomo described the album as "piano-based, very eccentric, with strings already recorded at Abbey Road." Cuomo mentioned that his influences for the album were George Gershwin and Harry Nilsson (specifically, the album ''[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nilsson_Sings_Newman Nilsson Sings Newman]''). Cuomo also confirmed the existence of another project tentatively titled ''[[Van Weezer]]''. | |||
In a July 2019 [https://www.allthingsloud.com/life-brian-things-loud-meets-weezer/ interview by the music outlet All Things Loud], [[Brian Bell]] described the album as being "about technology and how it’s running our life". Said Bell:<blockquote>''OK Human is unlike anything I’ve ever heard, unlike any other type of music and unlike any Weezer music. In the bass, if you really broke it down to its common denominator, it still goes one, four, five in a major key for the most part. That’s very Weezer, that’s very Sweater Song, but it does it in more sophisticated ways.''</blockquote> | In a July 2019 [https://www.allthingsloud.com/life-brian-things-loud-meets-weezer/ interview by the music outlet All Things Loud], [[Brian Bell]] described the album as being "about technology and how it’s running our life". Said Bell:<blockquote>''OK Human is unlike anything I’ve ever heard, unlike any other type of music and unlike any Weezer music. In the bass, if you really broke it down to its common denominator, it still goes one, four, five in a major key for the most part. That’s very Weezer, that’s very Sweater Song, but it does it in more sophisticated ways.''</blockquote> | ||
In an interview with Spanish magazine MondoSonoro[https://www.facebook.com/mondosonoro/videos/2172246899541125/], Bell described the basis of the album as "a string section", and that the album would also feature acoustic guitars, a Hammond organ, and would sound very "airy and open". Bell also described the album as one of his favorite albums the band has made thus far. In [https://www.binaural.es/entrevista/entrevista-weezer-nos-funciona-confeccionar-los-discos-de-forma-encadenada/ an August 2019 interview with the Spanish blog Binaural], Bell confirmed that the album's string section was recorded before anything else, and suggested that [[Crush]] Management would prefer to release ''Van Weezer'' before ''OK Human''. | In an interview with Spanish magazine MondoSonoro[https://www.facebook.com/mondosonoro/videos/2172246899541125/], Bell described the basis of the album as "a string section", and that the album would also feature acoustic guitars, a Hammond organ, and would sound very "airy and open". Bell also described the album as one of his favorite albums the band has made thus far. In [https://www.binaural.es/entrevista/entrevista-weezer-nos-funciona-confeccionar-los-discos-de-forma-encadenada/ an August 2019 interview with the Spanish blog Binaural], Bell confirmed that the album's string section was recorded before anything else, and suggested that [[Crush]] Management would prefer to release ''Van Weezer'' before ''OK Human''. | ||
===2020=== | |||
In [[2020]], due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the [[Hella Mega Tour]] was postponed until [[2021]]. On [[April 10]], [[2020]], Cuomo [[List_of_Rivers_Cuomo_video_streams#Island_in_the_Zoom|stated on the video conferencing platform Zoom]] that, at the time, the album was 75% complete. He followed this up by stating the album would likely not be released in [[2020]]. On [[April 16]], he explained the premise to a fan as "very much a day in the life of [himself], but from a very private place." On [[May 14]], Cuomo shared a photo via Snapchat of a studio, with visible sheet music titled "[[Dead Roses]]". On [[May 15]], Cuomo confirmed in an interview with Mike Jones of the radio station DC101 that the string section was the first to be recorded for the album and that, at the time of the interview, only his piano parts were yet to be completed. | |||
On [[August 13]], Weezer formally announced that ''[[Van Weezer]]'' was being postponed until May 2021 [https://twitter.com/Weezer/status/1294123815954534400], simultaneously hinting that ''OK Human'' would release in the meantime, tweeting "More music coming for you '''Humans''' real soon, '''Ok'''?" [https://twitter.com/Weezer/status/1294124031612989442] On [[October 1]] through the streaming platform ''TikTok'', Cuomo revealed that the band had a photo shoot earlier that day, later confirming it to be "for the OK Human artwork and the whole album cycle". On [[November 16]], Cuomo confirmed to users of [[Riverchat]] that the album was complete, adding that the radio mix for the [[All My Favorite Songs|first single]] was in the mixing process. On [[November 27]], Cuomo clarified that there was no chance that a single would be released before the end of the year as "[the] music business shuts down after thanksgiving. And that's in a normal year." [https://www.reddit.com/r/weezer/comments/k4w2l6/does_anyone_have_proof_of_rivers_saying_they/] On [[November 29]], [[Karl Koch]] confirmed that ''OK Human'' would be releasing before ''Van Weezer'' via a comment on the Weezer Fan Club Facebook page. He added, however, that it would not be releasing as soon as originally promised. [https://www.facebook.com/groups/weezerfanclub/permalink/1946926242123219?comment_id=1947052258777284][https://www.weezerpedia.com/wiki/File:Karl-fb_okhumanfirst.png] On [[December 13]], Koch stated during a Zoom video conference with the [[Weezer Fan Club]] that something "awesome" related to the album would be releasing in "the latter half of January" but did not clarify whether he was referring to the first single or the album itself. He also said that ''OK Human'' would have "the coolest album art [he's] ever seen". [https://www.reddit.com/r/weezer/comments/kcmg80/ok_human_coming_january_confirmed_by_karl/] | |||
==Marketing== | |||
On [[January 5]], Cuomo gave more info on the album to the users of [[Riverchat]] [https://www.weezerpedia.com/wiki/File:Riverchat-okhuman_01-05-21.png][https://www.reddit.com/r/weezer/comments/kr66e6/some_info_on_ok_human_much_more_of_an_orchestral/], describing how the album's instrumentation shifted over time to include a full orchestra (as opposed to only strings, as initially conceived). He also confirmed that the album had more than ten tracks. The same day, Barry Summers of the video production company Fantracks confirmed on Facebook that an upcoming "AR Sci Fi Movie Musical Adventure" based on ''OK Human'' would begin casting the following week, providing rough concept art for the video. | |||
On [[August 13]], Weezer announced that | |||
On [[November 16]], Cuomo confirmed to users of [[Riverchat]] that the album was complete, adding that the radio mix for the first single was in the mixing process. | |||
On [[November 27]], | |||
On [[November 29]], [[Karl Koch]] confirmed that OK Human would be releasing before Van Weezer via a comment on the Weezer Fan Club Facebook page. | |||
On [[December 13]], | |||
On [[January 5]], | |||
On [[January 10]], a preorder page for the vinyl pressing of the album was discovered on the website for the UK record store chain HMV, with a given release date of [[January 29]] [https://web.archive.org/web/20210110160200/https://store.hmv.com/store/music/vinyl/ok-human]. The page was removed hours after it was discovered. On the same day, a post reviewing the album was found on a Hungarian blog [http://elmenyem.hu/zene/januar-vegen-erkezik-a-meglepetes-weezer-album/] which reinforced the January 29 release date and implied that the album would have 12 tracks. | On [[January 10]], a preorder page for the vinyl pressing of the album was discovered on the website for the UK record store chain HMV, with a given release date of [[January 29]] [https://web.archive.org/web/20210110160200/https://store.hmv.com/store/music/vinyl/ok-human]. The page was removed hours after it was discovered. On the same day, a post reviewing the album was found on a Hungarian blog [http://elmenyem.hu/zene/januar-vegen-erkezik-a-meglepetes-weezer-album/] which reinforced the January 29 release date and implied that the album would have 12 tracks. | ||